Daily Archives: December 9, 2011

One thing that I learned last weekend during my stint at the yarn shop was how easily knitters reach for bulky wool this time of year. It seemed like every 2nd person was asking about what bulky yarn options were there, and more likely than not it was because they were knitting gifts and they wanted them to go quickly. (Who would have thought? Gifts that knit quickly? You mean not all gifts have to be on fingering weight? Dude, I’ve been going about this all wrong.) While I was there I also fondly petted my Frostbite hat and mitt samples, which currently reside at the Purple Purl along with several hard copy patterns.

And you know, darned if people weren’t knitting it. I mean, we always hope for this, as designers, but it was a new thing for me to watch it happen in real time. (Admittedly, it tickled me to no end. I kept my glee on the inside and attempted to remain professional.) Over the course of the weekend a few folks purchased yarn to make Frostbites (some for themselves, though, of which I approve – knit yourself something over the holidays too, I always say), which tickled me to no end. And then after a weekend of watching people snap up the bulky yarn like crackers, and then after the beginning of a week week that saw me finishing a sizeable deadline project before carrying on to all the other many deadline projects on my list, and sometimes I just miss the knitted samples I have to part with, and I arrived at Wednesday and just wanted something that I could start and finish in less than a week and said “I WANT A QUICK HAT TOO. SO THERE, TO-DO LIST. I’LL DEAL WITH YOU LATER. Me and the bulky yarn, we have GOT THIS.”

So this is all a long way of saying that I am knitting myself my own hat and mitt set. I cast on the hat on Wednesday night and by dinnertime on Thursday I was already ready to start the first mitten. Like, this thing practically blinks itself off the needles. (It’s in some stashed Wool of The Andes Bulky, from Knit Picks. Judging by how many colours they seem to need to re-stock, I’m guessing there are a few more bulky knitters out there.) I love it. Why have I neglected bulky yarn for so long? More bulky knits in 2012, I say.

A good thing I finally came to my senses on this, because it’s all in time for December to finally declare itself known. After November failed to make up its mind on what season it was in, we are going into the second weekend of December with a little bit of this on the ground:

The weekend ahead is threatening a bit of Christmas-tree-getting, cookie baking, and yet more knitting. (Probably some adult beverages, too.) So all in all that’s a pretty good docket. I hope you’ve got a great weekend ahead of you as well, and that the knitting is under control! And you know, even if it isn’t under control, well, it’ll still be fine. Have a cookie anyway.

Catch you next week!

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[ETA] Jen, the multi-colour sock knitter from my previous post, reports that it was these socks (Ravelry link) that she was knitting. Free pattern, and easy with sock yarn leftovers. Very groovy.